Today In History...

In 1789 The U.S. War Department establishes a regular army with a strength of several hundred men.

In 1829 London's re-organized police force, which came to be known as Scotland Yard, goes on duty.

In 1902 Impresario David Belasco opens his first Broadway theatre.

In 1913 Engine designer Rudolf Diesel drowns in the English Channel.

In 1918 Allied forces score a decisive breakthrough of the Hindenburg Line in Germany during World War I.

In 1927 Phone service is established between the U.S. and Mexico.

In 1943 During World War II, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio sign an armistice aboard the British ship Nelson off Malta.

In 1951 The first color telecast of a football game on a network.

In 1951 Nicholson discovers the 4th and 12th satellites of Jupiter.

In 1953 "Make Room For Daddy" starring Danny Thomas premieres on ABC-TV.

In 1954 The movie "A Star Is Born," starring Judy Garland and James Mason, premieres at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood.

In 1957 The New York Giants play their last baseball game at the Polo Ground before moving to San Francisco.

In 1963 The second session of the ecumenical council Vatican II opens in Rome, Italy.

In 1963 The "Judy Garland Show" and the situation comedy "My Favorite Martian" starring Bill Bixby and Ray Walston both debut on CBS-TV.

In 1969 "Love American Style" premieres on ABC-TV.

In 1973 Soyuz 12 returns to Earth.

In 1973 47-year-old Frenchman Henri Rochetain sets the world record for staying on a tightrope at 185 days.

In 1975 Baseball manager Casey Stengel dies at a hospital in Glendale, California, at the age of 85.

In 1977 Soviet space station Salyut 6 is launched into earth orbit.

In 1978 After only a month as pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope John Paul I is found dead in his Vatican apartment.

In 1979 Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to visit Ireland.

In 1982 Seven people in the Chicago area die after unknowingly taking Extra-Strength Tylenol laced with cyanide.

In 1983 Congress invokes the War Powers Act for the first time when it authorizes President Reagan to keep 1,600 U.S. Marines in Lebanon for up to 18 months longer.

In 1984 Officials in Ireland announce that two of its navy cutters had intercepted a trawler carrying seven tons of U.S.-purchased weapons from the U.S. for delivery to the Irish Republican Army.

In 1986 The Soviet Union releases Nicholas Daniloff, an American journalist confined in Moscow on spying charges, whose detention had been regarded as a serious obstacle to a U.S.-Soviet summit.

In 1987 Henry Ford II, longtime chairman of Ford Motor Company, dies in Detroit, Michigan, at age 70.

In 1988 The space shuttle Discovery blasts-off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, marking America's return to manned space flight following the Challenger disaster.

In 1988 Florence Griffith Joyner and Jackie Joyner-Kersee of the U.S. win their second gold medals of the Seoul Olympics, in the 200-meter and the long jump, respectively.

In 1989 Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is convicted of battery for slapping Beverly Hills police officer Paul Kramer after he'd pulled over her Rolls-Royce for expired license plates.

In 1991 California Governor Pete Wilson vetoes a bill outlawing job discrimination against homosexuals, saying it could have led to unjustified lawsuits.

In 1992 Magic Johnson, infected with the AIDS virus, announces he would return to basketball. (He scrapped his comeback the following November.)

In 1992 Lawmakers in Brazil vote overwhelmingly to impeach President Fernando Collor de Mello.

In 1993 Bosnia's parliament rejects an international peace plan.

In 1995 Three U.S. servicemen are indicted in the rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl and handed over to Japanese authorities.

In 1995 The O.J. Simpson trial is sent to the jury.

In 1997 Israel and the Palestinian Authority agree to resume negotiations, ending a six-month stalemate.

In 1997 Oklahoma City bombing defendant Terry Nichols goes on trial in the same courtroom in Denver where Timothy McVeigh was convicted and sentenced to die.

In 1998 The Federal Reserve lowers the prime rate to 5.25 percent, the first cut in nearly three years.

In 1998 Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat accepts a proposal in which Israel cedes additional West Bank land.

In 1998 A 10-mile-long, 2-mile-wide oil spill threatens the California coast.

In 2001 President Bush condemns Afghanistan's Taliban rulers for harboring Osama bin Laden and his followers.

In 2001 Former South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu dies at age 78.

In 2002 Israel bows to UN demands and U.S. pressure, pulling troops and  tanks out through the barbed wire encircling Yasser Arafat's West  Bank headquarters.

In 2003 President Bush signs legislation to ratify the FTC's authority to set up a national do-not-call list for telemarketers.

In 2004 The privately built SpaceShipOne rocket plane travels past the edge  of earth's atmosphere, completing the first stage of a quest to win  the $10 million Ansari X Prize.

In 2008 Following the bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers and Washington  Mutual, The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 777.68 points, the largest single-day point loss in its history.

In 2010 Actor Tony Curtis died at his home in Las Vegas. He was 85. Married at one point to Janet Leigh, father to Jamie Lee Curtis.

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